From a Third Party's Point of View
by wanonymous
Summary: Takenaga does character studies of Sunako and Kyohei. Maybe then he'll figure out where these two stand.
1. Author's Notes

This is wanon. It's been a while. College knows how to eat up all my time.

That, and the fact that I've been working on more original stories that I just can't seem to post anywhere (unless I can post on Evernote, but that's a different story for another day.

Also, I have finals this week, but guess who managed to write 3 chapters in a week because they were winded? ((and probably sad because their prefinal standings suck so they used writing as a poor coping mechanism))

Fair warning: it is 4.20 am (#blazeit) where im at and the first five chapters are unbetaed given my excitement to finally post them. also i just finished the 5th chapter maybe an hour before posting? ?

So this is inspired from **_Between the Pages_**, by **matsukanishi09**, you should definitely check it out if you have time, it is one of my favorite Wallflower fanfics to date. My story is what its title is, only that the third party is Takenaga, who in this AU is an aspiring writer. Events can be taken from the manga, the anime, and the live-action, whereas their ages are likely close to college students. It's more of character study and subtle romantic hints of sorts because that's apparently the only thing I am good at. Lol. Please enjoy.

-wanonymous


	2. sunako

He would take notes for Noi because, well, simply because he likes her. He supposes it also helps him further develop his writing style and composition skills, which many publishing houses require gravely of if he were to ever pursue his dream of writing.

And Sunako is an easy subject. Takenaga finds her a pleasure to write about often, from a third party observer's point of view. She had a lot she said without ever muttering a word, and she was quick and deft with such small hands of hers, accomplishing so many and communicating just as much. He discovers these like treasure hunt clues, figuring out the lone female's moves and the reason behind them. He doesn't doubt for a minute that all her actions have significance. He finds, as he proofreads what he's written every night, that he barely discusses the physical aspects of his housemate, barely a mention about her siren-like long, black hair, nor a nod to her impressively slim figure that seemed to walk through walls whenever the need arises.

He writes Sunako the way she lives out her day. The little nuances when she cooks, how she will set aside the bad slices to snack on later, how she makes little noise when taking out the china from stacks on stacks of the delicate things. He still wonders how she avoids the lightest of scraping sounds. Sunako makes it a habit to perform daily tasks with as little movement as possible, Takenaga writes, as if she's restrained by an invisible force that prevents her from freely acting out on her own will. He's yet to find the reason for this.

He barely notices the tray of apple slices she quietly slides over to him on the table he occupies; it's the island that overlooks the kitchen, a perfect viewing spot for the subject of his girlfriend's assigned homework. "Oh," the raven-haired man startles, looking first at the slices before slowly raising his eyes to meet the raven-haired woman. "Thank you."

Sunako takes a while before she responds, but she holds his stare just the same. There remains a glint of pride in them, and Takenaga has to control himself from smiling giddily. It's quite blatant that she's embarrassed and simultaneously unsure of how to respond, what to say to him, but uncertainties can mean weakness, and so Sunako has resorted to staring him down. It also means her tamping down the possible occurrence of epistaxis just for staring at him.

"You're welcome." She finally says.

"This was very thoughtful of you." Takenaga tries to prod lightly. Sunako shrugs, breaks eye contact by turning around to go back to her chores. She takes a while to answer him again. When she does, she sounds cautious. "You seemed like you might need brain food."

"This writing assignment does take its toll sometimes," he takes a bite without expectation; he knows Sunako rarely errs when she cooks. He hums appreciatively. "This makes for a good energy boost. Thank you, really. I appreciate it."

He doesn't miss the tapping of her fingers before she resumes preparing what he's certain is dinner. Sunako speaking with a male is beyond her comfort, and he's well aware of it. Unfortunately, touching on the topic might cause an unwanted reaction, and he'll be back to square one again - to being accused of stalking her, to sneaking around just so he can write his progress report on her. Takenaga's sure neither of them would like that.

He doesn't know how to communicate without speaking the same way Sunako can. He feels he can hear her thoughts more than her words, which is more than enough. It's the cues he picks up on. It's difficult on his end, though. It tests his patience, a man like him.

"Let me know if you want anything else." Sunako ends the conversation at that. Takenaga counts it as a win; he's practically won her trust at this point.

He finishes his note-taking on a positive end.


	3. kyohei

Kyohei has impressively heightened senses, Takenaga notes. He finds it may be from all those years of having to navigate past mobs and hordes of women who were greedy for him, and it bites him in the ass when he tries to be sneaky around his best friend.

"Stop being weird, I can tell you're following me." The blond snarls, no real venom to his tone. Takenaga raises his hands in surrender. "If it's of any help, I only do it around the house and in school."

"Did somebody pay you to?"

"No amount of bribery can ever pay back what we still owe Obaa-chan," the raven sighs woefully. It's sad as much as it's true, and everyone but Sunako knows it. Kyohei snorts. "Ain't that the truth."

Yet he still turns to look Takenaga in the eye with a glare deadlier than the swing of a scythe. "Nobody paid you to?"

"Nope." He gives off an air of nonchalance, as if to say he has nothing to hide, and Kyouhei reacts positively to it - even if he doesn't realize it himself.

_He's a sympathizer, whether he knows it or not._ The raven remembers that one detail to the bone. He touches on the topic often when he writes about the blond. Takenaga finds this the one redeeming trait of Kyohei's that Noi wishes to cultivate further, possibly even with the hopes of involving Sunako in her love-crazed mess in the process. Takenaga just wants the two to get along.

The members under the Nakahara mansion, with the addition of Tamao and Noi, all think Kyohei has a thing for Sunako and that the two are unaware of it. Takenaga finds that he's the only one who sees potential in a blooming, less chaotic friendship between the two of them. He's seen hints of it all these years the five of them have lived together, and he's witnessed actual moments that the blond man and the raven-haired woman do get along, no sharp weapons nor hard punches included in those rare interactions.

"Any work today, Kyohei?" He decides to open a topic. His best friend shakes his head smugly. "But I did get some good stuff from my boss," he flashes him two prized cuts of wagyu beef he'd received from working at the supermarket. Clearly his good looks brought in four times more customers than usual. "'M gonna ask Nakahara to cook it for dinner."

He stands up, all traces of excitement visible from the tips of his eyelashes to the tingle in his fingers, Takenaga notices with a knowing smile. He hopes Sunako's also in a good mood.


	4. sunakyo and their truce

Takenaga revels in the rare days that Sunako and Kyohei don't disrupt the peace in the household. He gets to write a lot about them both, too.

Today is one of those lucky days, and he watches them from the comforts the upstairs deck brings him. Sunako's taken to maintaining the garden after Noi had so kindly asked her to, and Kyohei's trudging casually beside her, peering over her shoulder every once in a while, presumably to take a look at the blooms. There was one instance, Takenaga adds to his notes, that the blond had extended a hand, curious as to how doll's eye bulbs felt like (maybe even wondering if they were _"squishy"_, if he had to go by his vocabulary), when the woman quickly slapped his hand away, nimble yet soft. The intention was not to hurt him, but to stop him from getting hurt.

They made eye contact then.

Kyohei loses the glare first, and Takenaga sees Sunako's shoulders relax after. He speaks a bit after that, a barely disguised furrow in his eyebrows suggestive of the pout in his voice, and he's met with Sunako shaking her head, but reaching a hand for the white berries and plucking only one. She hands it to his waiting palm, but eyes him after that. Takenaga supposes the plant is poisonous.

The two walk again. Past the doll's eye plants are more questionably edible berries that Sunako is cultivating, and she plucks pairs of them for her and Kyohei to share.

Takenaga smiles. They look like children when they get along; unbiased, unbroken, untainted.

He wonders...a lot. He thinks about a lot of things when he sees how amicable the two people are. They get along _just fine_, not counting all the times Sunako's tried to murder him for making her nose bleed like that.

He wonders how Kyohei feels, being reminded of the thing he hates about himself the most, and he wonders how Sunako feels, being reminded of the very thing she wants to love about herself. _Kyohei hates being reminded about how beautiful he is, and Sunako hates being reminded that she cannot be,_ Takenaga chews on his pen, _it's a lot to unpack. The budding of this friendship is difficult because of that._

He supposes a romantic relationship based on this train of thought would only start and end in misery and pain, too. Neither one deserves to feel such for things they cannot control.

_Although, I suppose,_ he writes, _time, as it always has, heals wounds. Time spent together, time spent getting to know the other._

The raven-haired man looks over the deck once more, to check if the two were still around. His eyes meet theirs, Kyohei waving up at him, while Sunako holds up a few more berries - hopefully edible - they thought of sharing with him. _The saying goes like this: it takes time. The saying never says how little or how much anyway._ Takenaga ends the note there, and goes down to join them.


	5. sunakyo and their gifts

Short interlude: please check Rune Lazuli's poems! They are actually very fitting for Wallflower, and maybe if I feel it, I might write a separate piece revolving around her poems.

* * *

There is a poster on the wall of Sunako's room that leaves a great impression on Takenaga. More than that, he wonders about the circumstances of how, when, where, from whom, and why she'd gotten a hold of such a piece. It's a line from one of Rune Lazuli's numerous, and somehow, relatable one-stanza poems.

_I am not looking to escape my darkness, I am learning to love myself there._

_Truth be told,_ he writes a new entry, _I think she's succeeded._ Takenaga chews his lip swollen, trying to come up with an explanation that clearly justifies his currently muddled train of thoughts. _She is unapologetically herself,_ he begins, _and she's completely embraced her new persona - although I have no words regarding her old one, only that it didn't make her happy._

_That, I believe, is enough reason and drive to change oneself. I think it's brave, that she would throw away everything she once knew, once believed in, clear the space in her mind and heart, to make room for a new set of principles, of values. I think it's painful, that she had to tear apart wall after wall, but I like to think that more than the pain it caused her, she felt more liberated that way._

_She_ _**is**_ _learning to love herself in the darkness, and I applaud her for her efforts. It would do well to note that this time around, she only requires validation from herself, even though we all know that proves most difficult._

Takenaga stretches his fingers. The next paragraph requires a lot more exertion this time, he's sure.

_Kyohei doesn't have a lot of remarkable belongings in his room. The empathy he possesses overcompensates for the lack of sentimentality in his personality. I do like to indulge in the possibility that his lack of solid relationships in as early as childhood could be cause for the semi-detached man he is today._

A curious thought crosses Takenaga's mind, but he doesn't want to erase what he already wrote.

_On a related note, Kyohei keeps a small skull by his bedside, something so out of place yet so prominent in the neat, muted furnishings of his rented room._

"Where'd you get that?" Takenaga pretends he's never seen the skull as soon as he enters Kyohei's room, leaving his writing to a pause. The blond man follows his best friend's line of sight and closes his eyes again. "Sunako."

Takenaga pauses for a while. "It looks nice."

"It sticks out," Kyohei voices his thoughts. "I can't not look at it when I wake up and before I go to bed." There aren't any undertones to what he is saying, straightforward man that he is, but that's only because he hasn't realized it yet. "If you don't mind me asking, why'd she give you something she'd rather have for herself?"

"Trade-off," he explains curtly, but bluntly. "As thanks for saving her friend." Takenaga nods slowly, keeping mind not to absentmindedly reach for the miniature skull in the event that Kyohei does the same thing. "I gave her some ghost-themed snack in return."

"That doesn't seem like a fair trade-off," the raven-haired man points out. Kyohei scoffs his contempt. "She sprung it on me all of a sudden; I didn't have anything on hand." He glances for his best friend's expression and reddens in the face. "I got her a book a week after that, stop looking like you're disappointed in me." At that, Takenaga does stop glaring. "A book?"

"At a secondhand store. A poetry book."

_Poetry?_

"That's thoughtful." Takenaga decides. He watches his best friend turn pink with embarrassment. _Kyohei knows he's not exactly superficial, but he's aware he's not very profound as a person, either_. _The fact that he contemplated about what to give someone else is not a deciding factor of his personality, but more of a step closer to a better him. Yet I worry he may not be aware of the changes he goes through as a person._ "Is the author Rune Lazuli, by any chance?"

The blond sits up. "How do you know that?"

"Sunako has a poster of one of her poems in her room," Takenaga tell him, "I thought the line was interesting." He watches for Kyohei's reactions as he not so subtly looks over the grinning skull. "And here you are, putting the skull on full display."

"What are you trying to say?"

"That it's nice when people use the gifts they receive." Takenaga can never pull off ignorance given his personality, but he says this with a tone that sounds unaware, hoping the sympathizer in Kyohei buys it. He just hums in contemplation, so Takenaga continues. "That _is _the reason why you're not putting away the skull, right?"

The blond glances at the only fixture in his room with a small smile. "Yeah," he finally says, reaching out to gently brush a hand over it, "it adds to my personality."

"It looks great, Kyohei. It brings life to your room."

_You want to perform a miracle? Forgive yourself. -Rune Lazuli_


	6. sunakyo and their fights

_The earth shakes beneath their feet when Sunako and Kyohei get into a fight._

Takenaga can hear muffled shouting from his room upstairs, and while they are all loud in their own ways, it hits different when Sunako is doing the shouting. _Sunako is quiet like the night, a dense existence, but not one that feels invasive. She is more adept with her actions than with her words, which, in hindsight, does leave room for misunderstandings, but is arguably one of the rarest forms of sincerity._ More yelling is heard in the floor below, even as Takenaga's door is closed. "Oh, grow _up,_" he hears Sunako growl at the last word, "grow up, why don't you? Your gluttony is inexcusable, and your growing appetite isn't endearing!"

_Ah,_ Takenaga thinks, _so it was the food supply. _

"I don't do it so you can find me cute!" Kyohei yells back, more irritated than usual. "I _am_ growing up, I'm growing so much, I need a bigger serving than what I used to be fed! I'm a man, not a boy, so feed me like one!"

_Smack!_ The sound resounds in the whole house. By this time, Yukinojo has entered Takenaga's room for cover, coming from his sunbathing session at the third floor deck. "I think she just punched him," the smaller man says, genuinely worried. "I think she just knocked out half his upper teeth," Takenaga suggests. Yuki shivers at the thought. Sunako is just as capable.

_Kyohei, because he is straightforward and direct to the point, thinks little of his choice of words. It usually ends in bad situations, but never difficult situations, so he doesn't change tactics._

"It doesn't hurt to let me know," Sunako's voice is less loud this time, and they only hear it because Yuki left the door ajar. "All you had to do was tell me, and I'd consider it when I buy food outside."

"You don't listen to me," Kyohei is the one growling this time, as if he's the one at a loss.

_And yet, when they fight, when they yell, and when they're hissing, somehow the air is heavy, torturous. It's as if the world around them feels for them. _

"How can I even tell you things when you're so busy screaming 'bright creature' at me and running away? How can I even get close to you, when you don't even want to _look_ me in the eye?"

_As we've gotten older, the physical violence has immensely reduced. We are at that age where we can get arrested for assault, but we are also at that age where communication should not be a problem, considering our living conditions as well. In lieu of this, the strongest people of the household frequent_ _in screaming matches, and like a lit match, slowly dies down, and all that's left is brittleness._

Yuki peers over his shoulder to see what Takenaga is writing despite the natural disaster occuring outside. "Writing assignment?"

"Of sorts," Takenaga supplies.

Yuki accepts this as an answer and goes to sit on the couch in the room. "She can speak normally to me, though." He says eventually. Takenaga looks at him. "We talk about Machiko, and how to make ghost candles. Sometimes she suggests mild horror movies for us to watch, too."

"Does she look you in the eye?"

"Yeah," Yuki answers, brows furrowed. "Doesn't she do the same for you?"

"She does," Takenaga replies, "even gives me food when I'm writing anywhere in the mansion that isn't in my room."

The smaller man processes this new information. "I thought she was getting better; she spends a lot of time with Kyohei the most, after all."

Takenaga raises his eyebrows in surprise. He knows that, but it hadn't really sunk in. Before he can get a reply out, he hears thumping sounds, like people walking with heavy footsteps. "Snap out of it, will you?" Kyohei yells her. "When you look at me, don't think of you! Think of _me_! Look at me properly!"

Takenaga regrets not having heard what Sunako had said to garner this kind of response from Kyohei. The undertones are barely subtle, which explains Yuki's blush, but in the context of the situation, the raven-haired man understands the road to becoming a proper lady is still quite far. He understands the scars of being called ugly for trying still run deep, and he understands that more than the rent, more than anything, Kyohei wants her to heal from it.

In a separate page, Takenaga makes a small note: _Kyohei does not want Sunako to change, he wants her to evolve, to grow. Sunako is so confident in her new skin, and at the same time she isn't._

Yuki peeks outside to assess the damage, "he's holding her by the shoulders, on the wall, and they're having a staredown."

Takenaga snorts.

_Their exchanges are so heated, so fuelled with rage, that when they finally calm down, the words suddenly become like crashing waves, so clumsily falling one after the other, with the intent to cool each other off. It works out in the end, especially when Sunako uses her words, and Kyohei puts more thought with his._


	7. sunakyo and attention

_Kyohei looks at Sunako as she smiled._

Takenaga never imagined himself to be a writer of romance novels, but watching his best friend freeze at the sight of something Sunako does so rarely has led him to this.

_We are all aware of her objectively attractive face. Big, round violet eyes, almost the shade of the night sky, with stars glinting at the corners. Plump lips and round cheeks, like the ripest of fruits. Sharp nose with a curvaceous bridge to match. Pale, ivory skin, looking almost fragile if not for the strength of the woman who possesses it. Sunako is beautiful. We are all past this - except for the person in question, but the matter is never discussed. More often than not, it is Kyohei's face we have to deal with. Sharp, almond-shaped golden-amber eyes, gleaming angrier than the sun. High cheekbones, red lips, the very objects men and women equally wish to rest themselves on. Long nose, a statuesque bridge only sculptors could dream to mold. Tanned, golden skin, a fighter against the glare of the sun and everything under it. Kyohei is, in a way, too beautiful. I'll admit looking at him is too much sometimes, that maybe I understand the plight of Sunako who has to look at him while refusing to look at the her that is reflected in those honey eyes._

_Kyohei looks at Sunako, all the time. It's just looking, not leering, not glaring. Not good, not bad. It's just...noticing. And yet, compared to the sun that he glares at, or the moon that he doesn't give a second glance, Sunako has won over his attention, has always been holding it throughout all these years._

"You should do that more often," Kyohei grumbles to her, and the smile she has for Josephine instantly melts into a grouchy frown. "Maybe then Yuki wouldn't be so scared of you."

"He is not," she continues to scowl, but still refuses to look at him. She's turned to the TV instead. Mind that they are all in Sunako's bedroom, readying to watch a few black comedies as a fairly new bonding tradition as housemates. Ranmaru and Yukinojo have yet to come back from bringing out their secret stashes. "None of you are scared of me," Sunako hides the whine under her breath, but Takenaga catches it with a concealed pleased smile. "It makes it difficult to murder any of you now."

"You couldn't, even if you tried," Kyohei tells her obnoxiously, loudly, proudly. He was trying to provoke her, but Sunako still doesn't give him the time of day. Takenaga bites his pen, easily becoming a wallflower in the poorly lit room. "See, you can't even look me in the eye, you think you can murder me at this rate?"

_Kyohei wants her attention. He probably finds it unfair that she can grab his without even trying, but he has to work to get hers. To be frank, Sunako also works hard to avoid him, as Kyohei isn't someone so easy to ignore. Sunako stubbornly refuses to meet his eyes for several reasons._

"I don't have to look at you to know exactly where your carotid artery is." She responds, but there's more insistence in her tone, something that tells Takenaga that the provocation is working. _For one, Kyohei is intimidatingly beautiful, or in Sunako's vocabulary, "bright"._

_I tend to wonder how she's overcome our brightness, Yuki's, Ranmaru's, and mine, but that's a study for another day._

"What I do have to look for is those two," Sunako veers away from scrutiny quickly as she can. "We can't start the movie without them." She makes to leave the room, but Kyohei and his annoyingly long legs trip her, and she only stumbles, but she ends up glaring at him, hard. The blond man smirks at her. _He also tries to grab her attention like a boy with a schoolyard crush, and Sunako is too mature for that. Although sometimes she falls for it just as well._ Takenaga watches as she jabs his best friend in the shoulder, and he's too slow to dodge. "Deserved," he says, earning a smile from Sunako and nothing more as she leaves to find the other two housemates. Kyohei looks at him, glaring and whining like a kicked puppy. "She smiled at you and you barely said anything!"

"You could learn to get along with her, Kyohei," the black-haired man raises an eyebrow. "It's not that hard."

"It's not that fun, though," he answers, wanting to cross his arms but unable to due to the hit he took earlier. _Sunako dislikes what she thinks is bullying, but what Kyohei thinks is being playful, casual, friendly. Then again, on the days we have to put on a facade for obaachan, she seems unable to tolerate Kyohei's no-nonsense attitude, his seriousness, his complete lack of maturity that we've all known him for. She_ can _stand_ _to look at him at that point, though, if only to wonder where the impish manchild has gone. It's an unintentional push and pull between these two._

Takenaga recalls Ranmaru's story, when he had to step in between Sunako and Kyohei, because they were just about ready to fight, and possibly lose face in front of Obaachan, and Takenaga could only stall for time for so long.

To prove that Sunako was well on her way to becoming a lady, Ranmaru danced with her in the middle of the hall, and she had more than enjoyed herself, not fighting a nosebleed, but more at war with a certain blond who had a tendency to cause it. "What's wrong, Sunako-chan?" Ranmaru holds her close, but at a respectable distance. They don't notice how everyone's eyes follow them. "You're never very expressive when you're all dolled up like this. You stiffen up."

"I'm not the only one who does," she glares at him, then, realizing that he means no harm, looks down on their feet. Ranmaru lifts her chin just as quickly. "That's a no-no in dancing, sweetheart," he chastises, then goes back to the topic at hand. "Do you mean Kyohei? You're both really bad at pretending, after all."

_Everyone in the room was staring at them; me, Obaachan, Kyohei._

"He's weird," Sunako decides, and looks up at Ranmaru for a response. He only raises his eyebrows at her. "He's stiff and it's not him," she tries to explain, "he's uncomfortable and weird and...not fun."

"Not fun." Ranmaru echoes, gears whirring in his head. He smiles at her patronizingly. "You never seem to have fun when he pushes you around, though?"

_Whatever it was that Ranmaru had told her in the privacy a busy ballroom could grant, it had made both Kyohei and Sunako glare at him menacingly. Ranmaru, after all, knows how to talk to a lady, and Sunako is no exception._

"Did you maybe want to dance with him tonight, Sunako-chan?"

"What?" She frowns further, but Ranmaru is grinning wider. "Dancing is fun, isn't it?" He says, "and you want Kyohei to have fun, too, don't you?" He twirls her once, his hand noticeably sliding from her back to her waist. "You want him to be comfortable."

Sunako's frown has reduced to a thin line of lips, trying to figure out what exactly she wants to do with Kyohei. So far, Ranmaru's the only one who's given reasonably sound advice. _The scene had looked so deceptively well-orchestrated, that as soon as Ranmaru had said his piece, Kyohei immediately stepped in, driven by something the red-haired man had awoken in him, and once our friend stepped off the limelight, Kyohei took over._

_For the longest time, Kyohei held Sunako's attention, and we watched her worry about him, fussing about the entire fiasco, and then slowly relaxing in his arms as they continued to dance mindlessly in the ballroom._

"He's never noticed," Ranmaru murmurs as soon as Takenaga is within earshot, "but Sunako worries about him a lot. Food, lodging, comfort..."

"He probably has," Takenaga says, "just never really connected the dots on his own." Ranmaru snorts. "Well, he _is_ an idiot."

_Sunako refuses to look at him, but she's always been attentive. She's always cared._


	8. sunakyo and loneliness

"It's a goukon, Kyohei, I'm going to be there," Ranmaru rolls his eyes exasperatedly, still unsuccessful in getting the blond man to come with him. "You'll know at least one person, _come on_."

"Don't wanna," the latter says stubbornly. His tone is final, but childish, and definitely annoying to the redhead. He lets go of Kyohei's arm. "Fine, fine!" He acquiesces, heavy sigh leaving his lips. "It doesn't necessarily mean you find a date anyway; it's just so you can expand your circle!"

But Ranmaru leaves in a huff, regardless, phone already to his ear, looking for a replacement for Kyohei. Sunako had been in the adjacent room, then engaged in a conversation with Noi about flower arrangement, but she can't help snorting at the sulking blond in the living room. "Adult man needs help making friends, does he?" She taunts in a light voice. Noi is on the phone with Tamao, snitching about Ranmaru's plans. Kyohei turns to her. "I don't want to hear that from someone who only talks to shitty dolls and skeletons."

"Noi is not a skeleton," Sunako counters easily. Kyohei scoffs mockingly. "Well, Takenaga is my friend." He retorts, raising a brow as if to say, _your move_. Sunako says, "Ranmaru said to make friends outside this manor."

"_You_ don't even have friends outside this manor." Kyohei is petulant, and Sunako rolls her eyes. Such move was pathetic and shameless, which is exactly what Kyohei is anyway, so she bites back, "Yuki-"

"Yuki-onna is not your friend; she's a spirit."

Sunako opens her mouth once again, but Kyohei cuts her off, "the old man who likes torture devices doesn't count, either. Also, he tried to marry you, so even if he _does_ count, he's still not your friend." Sunako makes to glare at Kyohei, from her place in the kitchen island to his slouching but smug figure in the living room.

_Kyohei has made a good point today, at his own expense._ Takenaga is quietly writing across Noi, who has concocted a plan to shadow Ranmaru with Tamao. _He and Sunako, minus the company of the very few people who are welcome in this mansion, are peerless, lonely._

Takenaga looks up to glance at Sunako, who looks angry only because Kyohei was being an absolute child and taking out his frustration on her, and not really because of what he'd said. _It doesn't seem to bother Sunako as much, that she's detached from the world. Kyohei doesn't look too worried either. They probably like keeping to themselves, or at least to a small circle they can easily handle, given their personalities and circumstances._

_Could it still be called loneliness?_

"It's not like I need anyone anyway," Sunako huffs, "Hiroshi-"

"'Hiroshi-kun is enough for me', yeah, we _know._" Kyohei rolls his eyes at her. Any more mentions of the anatomical doll and he was going to snap. Takenaga and Sunako are the only ones very aware of his irrational dislike for the doll, and the former only knows because one time they'd gone out drinking, it was all Kyohei could rant about. _Sunako's sense of companionship relies heavily on the inanimate doll she often projects feelings of abandonment onto. Kyohei isn't granted the same privilege. Maybe that's why he feels resentful of Hiroshi-kun._

"What are we to you, Sunako?" Kyohei laments aloud, the words an echo of what he had said that time he went drinking with Takenaga. "Are we really just bright creatures for your aesthetic?" He stands up, making steps towards the kitchen where she is. "Do you hate it so much, that maybe we have a lot in common? That if you talked to me instead of Hiroshi maybe you'd get a response for once?"

Sunako is silent, finally taking offense to what Kyohei had said. He looks like he has more to say, but thinks better of it, and storms to his room with a slouch and a thundercloud above his head. "Sunako-chan," Noi places a hand on her friend's wrist, brushing over the pale skin. "Maybe consider what he was saying," Takenaga watches his girlfriend console Sunako. "There's some truth to it."

At the door, she stops Takenaga. "You're good with words," she grins knowingly, "try to convince her that talking to another living person can be nice for a change."

"But Hiroshi-"

"Will be waiting for her in her room, all the same," Noi puts a hand to the handsome man's cheek adoringly. Seemingly except for Kyohei, everyone in Sunako's circle regarded Hiroshi and co. the same way they would one another. "Oda-kun, my dearest, have you never stopped to think that all Sunako's been doing is storing her emotions into those dolls? She's not exactly letting it grow. It's just festering, like mold." The raven-haired man understands immediately what his girlfriend is saying. He rushes back to his notebook, relieved that no one had fiddled with it in the time he left it unguarded.

_Kyohei wants what Sunako thinks she has: someone to lean on._

He heads to the second floor, where everyone;s bedrooms are. Takenaga can slightly hear the room close to the shared terrace. Lucky for him that room belongs to the perpetually angry blond man.

_True to what Noi had observed, Sunako finds companionship in the silence of anatomical dolls, which explains her immense patience with the four dazzling men in her life. Kyohei, on the other hand, believes that his friends either don't completely understand his struggles, or that he would be seen as weak if he talked about them. Both insinuations are wrong, but deeply ingrained in his mindset. Somehow, Sunako is the only one he can count on. Maybe it has something to do with how she openly faces her weakness - that, being the blinding, bright beautiful people - and doesn't lose herself in the process._

"I'm not here to apologize," Takenaga hears a woman's firm voice float through the window. He's glad it's summer, for once; the windows are open and the skies are clear. "Yeah?" Kyohei snaps, unfriendly and uncomfortable now that it's Sunako who's taken initiative. "Then what are you here for? To try to kill me? To lob carrots at me?"

"I'm here," Sunako takes a deep breath, audibly to let Kyohei - and Takenaga - know she is doing her best to be patient. "I'm here to listen to what you have to say."

There's an unbelievable pin-drop silence that Sunako and Kyohei, when in the same room, should not be able to make, but in that moment, do. It stretches on longer than what even Takenaga could predict, and for a split second, barely even half a second long, he considers that maybe the two have hugged it out, both at a loss for words and are more expressive with their hands anyway.

Kyohei breaks the silence by uncharacteristically choking on his spit. Takenaga rolls his eyes.

"I didn't...I didn't say you have to listen to me..." Kyohei trails off awkwardly, more used to explaining with fists than with words, "I just meant that I would listen to you." Takenaga frowns; he admittedly wants to see the expression on his best friend's face, even though he knows his emotions by the tone of his voice.

"You don't eat the carrots when I tell you, though?" Sunako's tone is more unreadable; all the more reason for the black-haired man to want to see her expressions. Back inside, Kyohei barks a surprised laugh. "This and that are different." There's another pause, and Takenaga isn't sure what's going on anymore, until he hears a soft, "Thank you."


End file.
